Monday, November 7, 2011
Benjamin Lira Slideshow and Presentation
10–12 am, Kinni Theater, University Center
The University of Wisconsin River Falls Art Department is proud to have Benjamín Lira as a Visiting Artist Monday and Tuesday Nov 7th and 8th. Lira's materials stretch from paint to paper constructions and finally enter the sculptural realm with his creation of megalithic heads from clay. His monumental ceramics can weigh up to 200 lbs., taking several months to make and more than a month just to dry. Through all his exploration of various mediums he sustains his signature abstraction of the human condition through form, presenting only the essentials in his facial structures.
Lira was born in Santiago, Chile where he studied at the Escuela de Arquitectura, Universidad Católica de Valparaíso. He later attended the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid, the Byam Shaw School of Drawing and Painting in London, was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship. Lira received his M.F.A. from the Pratt Institute in New York. He has shown his work at galleries internationally including the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Sanitiago, the Museo de América in Madrid and the Marlborough Gallery in New York. Lira currently lives and works in Santiago, Chile.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Visibility and Community Connections through Murals: A Pragmatic Guide, presentation by Dr. Lynn Jermal
Dr. Lynn Jermal will be presenting Visibility and Community Connections through Murals: A Pragmatic Guide, from 12–12:50, in the Boardroom of the State Regional Art Center. She will also be introducing Samantha Powell at the Awards Ceremony, a UWRF art education student who won this year's Wisconsin Outstanding Art Education Student award at 5 pm in the Main Floor Lobby. These events are part of the October 27–28, 2011 Wisconsin Art Education Annual Conference in Eau Claire, WI.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Samantha Powell, a senior art education student, has been honored with the Wisconsin Art Education Student Award 2011
The WAEA Award Ceremony will take place Thursday, Oct 27, 5 pm, at the Eau Claire Regional Art Center, Main Floor Lobby. This is part of the Wisconsin Art Education Association Annual Conference in Eau Claire, WI, Oct 27–28. Visit www.wiarted.org
for more information on the conference. Sam's background and accomplishments are also included in the conference brochure on the website. She was chosen from nominated students across Wisconsin and has been invited to join the WAEA Board of Directors to fill an interim position and be mentored into the field. Congratulations Sam!
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Fire and Earth: Tibetan Black Pottery Tradition, presented by Dr. Lynn Jermal
Time: 2–3 pm
Place: Kinni Theater, UC
A beautiful and intimate documentary of the entire process of creating black pottery in the village of Tangdui in Yunnan Province in southwest China nested in a shallow valley of the foothills of the Himalayas. UWRF students lived for a week in the village and created a 32-minute film and an illustrated book in four languages on the master potter Sun Nuo Qi Ling. The family of Sun Nuo Qi Ling has been producing black pottery masters for more than four documented generations, and he suspects there are at least seven masters before him. The clay techniques, traditional forms, and the high standards they maintain have been passed down to Master Sun Nuo and his son, Lousangen Zhu from their ancestors and were captured in this fine documentary. Discussion and questions on the project or pottery will be held after the showing.
Sponsored by International Study Week
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
UWRF Working in the Field: UWRF Student Projects around the World, presented by Dr. Lynn Jermal
Time: 2–3 pm
Place: Kinni Theater, UC
This presentation will share projects UWRF students from different majors worked on collaboratively in the CERS China Internship Program including: teaching Tibetans how to make cheese from Yak milk; documenting a Tibetan master potter with a 2000 year tradition for pottery in his village; setting up a living museum for the Lisu tribe; and collecting, cataloguing and storing over 200 artifacts from the last Li village (the original people) on Hainan Island as they are moved into concrete/cement houses, abandoning their traditional thatched homes. Independent research projects done in Semester Abroad–Europe will include: photo documentation of traditional occupations on Orkney, Organic Farming in Portugal, Survey on the new Parliament Proposal in Great Britain, Karst (cave) Research in Slovenia and many more.
Sponsored by International Study Week
October 13–November 30, 2011
People and the Land & A Sense of Place, exhibits by Jeannine Kitzhaber
Jeannine Kitzhaber will be exhibiting her work in two juried shows in October: People and the Land at the Silverwood Park Gallery in St. Anthony, MN and A Sense of Place, Landscape Show at Minnetonka Center for the Arts, in Minnetonka MN. The receptions for both exhibits are October 13, 6–8 pm.
September 27, 2011 (posted)
Art In Chile: A Studio Intensive
March 3–17, 2012
The beautiful South American country of Chile offers extraordinary scenery with its mountains, agricultural valleys, wine country and Southern Pacific Ocean vistas, and wildlife. This is an amazing opportunity to spend time with both American and Chilean artists at the Curaumilla Center for the Arts just south of Valparaiso, Chile. This workshop will combine hands on activities in the Art Center Studio plus lectures and discussion on Pre Columbian Art with Art Historian Dr. Kaylee Spencer. We are also inviting Several Chilean Artists and Curators to give guest presentations. Field trips will be taken to both the old port city of Valparaiso and to the capital city of Santiago. Chile has a developed infrastructure and friendly and educated/gracious people. We invite you to join us for this exciting adventure (see images
).
- Location: The beautiful oceanfront Curaumilla Arts Center just south of Valparaiso, Chile
- Study: Ceramics and Pre-Columbian Art History with Professors Randy Johnston and Dr. Kaylee Spencer (Expert in Mayan Portraiture).
- Spring Semester 2012 Registration: Art 289 or Art 489 Section 70 for three credits, which can be applied toward Art major. Non-student registration welcome. Guest Artists during this workshop will include: Jan McKeachie Johnston, Pelusa Rosenthal, Barbara Bravo, Benjamin Lira, Tatane Duran from San Pedro de Atacama, and Potters demonstrating Black pottery from Quinchamali.
- Cost: $4000 (final cost subject to airline price changes). This includes: Curaumilla Art Center fee, all ground transportation in Chile, room and board, three daily Chilean cuisine meals, studio supplies and activities, and airfare (Delta Air from Minneapolis to Santiago and back).
- Contact: Randy Johnston
or Global Connections
October 5–28, 2011
Polymorphic Membranes, an installation by Trever Nicholas
Trever Nicholas will be exhibiting his installation “Polymorphic Membranes” in Gallery 101 at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, from October 5-28, 2011. Mr. Nicholas, a resident of St. Paul, has exhibited his sculptural work and installations in Hungary, New York City, and numerous locations in the Twin Cities. He has received several grants from The Jerome Foundation and was Artist in Residence at both Franconia Sculpture Park in Shafer, Minnesota and Anderson Center in Red Wing.
“The geometry of milk bubbles and the presence of large fluffy cumulus clouds lay the groundwork for the construction of Polymorphic Membranes. I am a cross disciplinary visual artist who is interested in perceived experience as interpreted through our senses. I create objects of wonder by accentuating commonplace objects, memories, and situations. I am interested in elements of science, aspects of desire, and our body’s physical relationship to objects, architecture, and the surrounding environment.” Mr. Nicholas will be showing a presentation of his current and past installations and exhibitions. The reception will be from 3:30-5:30 pm, on October 5, in Gallery 101. To see more of his work visit mnartists.org.
September 15, 2011
Artist Lecture—Joe Smolinksi
UWRF Art Alumni, Joe Smolinksi, discussed his drawings and installations in the UC Kinni Theatre. The drawing depicted below is titled: Spinning Trees for Spent Oil, Dubai in the Alumni Exhibition I.
September 3–October 9, 2011
Constructed Realities–
8 Invited Artists
A group exhibition of Bernice Ficek-Swenson, Janne Laine, Tuula Lehtinen, Mitch Mitchell, David Morrish, Jan Pettersson, Lothar Osterburg, and Mats Wilhelmsson photogravures is being exhibited at the Grafikens Hus in Mariefeld, Sweden. This exhibition is being held in conjunction with Canadian artist Marlene MacCallum’s exhibition In Camera—Rekindling photographic memory.
August 12–October 1, 2011
FIRE! Exhibition by Bernice Ficek-Swenson & Terry Barczak
September 9–28, 2011
UWRF Alumni Exhibition I
Reception and gallery discussion is Friday, September 9 at 4–6 pm in Gallery 101.
July 12, 2011
Kurt Wild (11/22/31–07/12/11)
Art Department Emeriti Professor Kurt Wild passed away at United Hospital in St. Paul on Tuesday, July 12. Kurt taught at UWRF from 1963 retiring in 1992 serving as department chair from 1967 to 1970 when he was then appointed Assistant Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences serving in that position until 1974. Building a nationally recognized ceramic program at UWRF, Kurt received the award for Outstanding Teacher of the Year in the Humanities in 1991.
Following retirement, Kurt continued to remain active professionally as a ceramic artist. In a 2004 Emeriti Exhibition at UWRF, Kurt wrote, “From my beginning as an undergraduate, I enjoyed working with clay. I continue to do so for the simple reason that it gives me pleasure.”
Services will be private. Memorials may be directed to the UWRF Foundation for the Kurt and Ruth Wild Scholarship, www.uwrf.edu/giving.
June 1–24, 2011
Morgan Clifford Exhibition
May 6–June 12, 2011
Fiber Studio Exhibition at The Phipps Center for the Arts
May, 2011
Recipient of Minnesota Artist Initiative Grant, Morgan Clifford
Awarded $6,000 grant to be received in May of 2011 to create an installation in Stillwater Minnesota.
May, 2011
Recipient of Minnesota Artist Initiative Grant, Lauren Herzak-Bauman
Awarded $8,600 grant to be received in May of 2011 to create an installation in Minneapolis Minnesota.
May, 2011
Solo exhibition, Lauren Herzak-Bauman
March 11–April 30, 2011
Studio Photography & Printmaking exhibition, First Impressions: The St. Croix
Art students researched the history of the St. Croix River and surrounding communities creating personal interpretations. The black and white silver gelatin photographs and fine-art prints are tributes to the St. Croix marking the distinctive and varied traditions, culture, people, geography and history of the area. For further information call Silverwood Park at 763.694.7707. The gallery is open from 9a–5p in March and 9a–8p in April. This exhibit is free and open to the public. The exhibition is location at Silverwood Park, Three Rivers Park District, MN (2500 County Rd E W, St Anthony, MN, 55421). A reception will be held Friday, April 29, 6-8 p.
March 5
Two-person exhibition, Lauren Herzak-Bauman
Show opens Friday, March 5, 2011, at Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, PA. Image included
March 2–9, 2011
Senior exhibition of work from John Mclaughlin, Brittany Polzin, and Rachel Thomas
John Mclaughlin, Brittany Polzin and Rachel Thomas will be exhibiting their senior exhibition in Gallery 101 from March 2-9, 2011. Works include pottery, painting, figure drawing and ceramic sculpture. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, March 3 from 6–9p in the gallery. The reception is free and open to the public.
John Mclaughlin, from Ripon, WI, will be graduating with a Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree with an emphasis in ceramics. The work he will be displaying focuses on salt-fired functional pottery. He uses the interaction of the kiln with the clay body and brushwork to decorate the forms.
Brittany Polzin, from Luxemburg, WI, will be receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree with a concentration in ceramics. She has created a series of figurative ceramic sculpture and figure drawings. Brittany’s ceramic work is intended to draw attention to the female form using historic ideals. She will also be displaying a series of figure drawings created during her recent semester spent studying contemporary art in Switzerland.
Rachel Thomas, from Burnsville, MN, will be graduating with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Broad Area Art with an emphasis in studio painting. Her work involves a collection of whimsical and imaginary inspired paintings that evolve around the theme of storytelling. She has always been fascinated with the environment and the wide array of creatures that inhabit it. This exhibition is a culmination of all the work she has done during her college career.
February 18–September 5, 2011
docent academic advisor Tutankhamun Exhibit, Steven Derfler, Ph.D.
Steven Derfler is the academic advisor for all docents involved at the current Tutankhamun Exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota.
February 18–April 10, 2011
Traveling labor exhibition, David Heberlein
Information on the current location of WISCONSIN LABOR: A Contemporary Portrait traveling labor exhibition can be found at: http://www.wisconsinacademy.org/galleries/index.php?category_id=3536
January 24–March 12, 2011
Plunder The Influence exhibition, Bernice Ficek-Swenson
Plunder The Influence: An examination of visual manifestations (and sources) of influence is curated by Adriane Herman. More information can be found at http://adrianeherman.typepad.com/plunder_the_influence/2011/01/bernice-ficek-swenson.html .
January 23–March 17, 2011
Going Solar exhibition, Bernice Ficek-Swenson
St. Louis Artist’s Guild (MO), in conjunction with the 2011 Southern Graphic Council International Conference.
January 11–March, 2011
Cover photography for Wisconsin People & Ideas magazine, David Heberlein
Cover photography for Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters’ award-winning Wisconsin People & Ideas quarterly magazine.
January 8–February 4, 2011
Alternative Processes, Bernice Ficek-Swenson
Location: Mills Pond House Gallery, St. James, NY
Website: http://www.stacarts.org/exhibits/show/43
January, 2011
Egypt trip with Steven Derfler, Ph.D.
Eleven students participated in an educational trip to Egypt during the J-Term. Photo depicts students at the Temple of Edfu, dedicated to the Falcon God Horus.
